Rays vs. Yankees Betting Preview - April 18, 2021

With the Rays dominating the Yankees of late, it certainly can't hurt to take a look at Tampa priced today at +213.

Betting Preview

The Yankees are off to their first 5-9 start since 2016 when they made a late run to get 84 wins following a sell-off at the trade deadline. A loss on Sunday would give the Yankees a 5-10 start for the first time since 1997.

Gerrit Cole (2-0, 1.47 ERA) will start for the Yankees. The right-hander is 0-3 with a 4.07 ERA in seven regular-season starts against Tampa Bay and 0-1 with a 4.96 ERA in three regular-season starts against the Rays since joining the Yankees.

Cole allowed just one run on three hits in six innings of a 3-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays Monday in Dunedin, Fla. He struck out eight, marking his 12th straight start with at least seven strikeouts.

Andrew Kittredge (2-0, 1.69) will serve as the opener for Tampa Bay and Ryan Yarbrough is expected to pitch the bulk of the innings. The right-hander Kittredge has been the opener 11 times.

Kittredge is 2-1 with a 4.09 ERA in 17 career appearances against the Yankees.

The left-hander Yarbrough has a 6.48 ERA in three starts this season and is 3-2 with a 3.15 ERA in six career appearances against the Yankees.

The total is 7.5 and this one goes OVER that number today.

Betting Trends

• Tampa Bay is 17-5 versus the Yankees.
• The Rays are 14-3 in the past 17 regular-season meetings.
• The Rays are 8-2 in the last nine games in New York at Yankees Stadium.
• The OVER is 11-4 in Tampa's 14 games of the season thus far.